While old media is still on top, the trends in the survey, which has been conducted each of the last three years, point to a familiar story: media consumption habits are quickly changing. That said, some forms of new media are performing much better than others. For example:
- Blogs are now used by 24% of Internet users, up from 13% in 2006
- Social networks are now used by 26% of Internet users, up from 17% in 2006
- Videocasts are now used by 11% of Internet users, up from 6% in 2006
Slower growers include:
- RSS feeds: growing from 5 to 7 percent
- Podcasts: growing from 5 to 7 percent
- Business news sites: flat at 8 percent
Meanwhile, on the old media side of the house, some mediums are shrinking faster than others, with local TV news leading the decline, from 74% usage in 2006 to 62% last year. Cable news seems to be taking its place to some extent, growing from 47% to 49% usage in the same period. Here's the full chart, courtesy of eMarketer:
The declining usage for old media isn’t much of a surprise. But looking at the growth rates for different forms of new media, it’s apparent that some tools are catching on way faster than others, also not a surprise if you consider the topics we tend to focus on: social networking, blogging, and video. In all, the study re-enforces what you should be focusing on and prioritizing if you’re responsible for getting a company up-and-running in the world of new media.